I am a former DM that has retaken this lovely hobby after along time (Last time I played 4th edition came out and killed my love for D&D as well as the fact that I moved away) so at my current job some people asked for a D&D campaign and I jump at the idea of mastering one so here I am.
I will explain the setting as best as I can (I am Mexican and writing in English is kinda hard) so the idea is that there is this big city build on top of a crater near the sea, previously the city was a merchants place for a culture of Dwarves that discovered a huge forge where they could built the greatest magical artifacts ever thought by mankind. The selling of this wondrous items was great until there was some in fighting withing the dwarves and they blocked of the underground routes, loosing any knowledge of the ancient and powerful forge. The idea is that the forge is actually the prison for an ancient god that lies dormant and some people know this and wish to awake him, they know it is a prison 'cus they've dreamt of it and have had visions of it (kinda like the Cthulhu mythos works).
The adventures start when a group of goblins attack the harvest festival taking some kids away as well as the Duke's daughter, the adventures will be motivated to save the kids and they manage to save all but the Duke's daughter. When asked about this they will be offered a reward and after a wild goose chase where the heroes go into the underbelly of the corrupt and powerful city, it is until the heroes find the person that hired the goblins that they find the Duke's daughter and free her but (plot twist) that is not the daughter but a doppleganger, the real daughter is taken away by a wizard to turn her into an aberration and open the forges gate.
Where I am trapped is as follows:
The Duke makes a party for his "returning daughter", he has gone paranoid and asks the heroes to do something to attack whom he sees as the real culprit. (who should he attack because going after any noble would be hard, a nobleman's murder would bring to much attention and does not make a sub-boss type of villain).
The heroes do the bidding and when the duke thanks them the doppleganger attacks and kill the Duke.
The heroes are blamed for the crime and taken prisoners, they are freed from prison by a group of spies that know what is going on and tell them to go to the ancient temple of the sleeping god and kill the wizard to save the real Duke's daughter (How in the F' would they know this????)
So main questions are: Who should the Duke go after, how and why? and also how would the spy network know all that is going on?
Thanks guys
PS. the adventure part up to the prison should take them from level 2 to 3. Also, if you wish to know the story will take them to the temple where the wizard has turned the Duke's daughter into an aberration and they need to kill her, when the wizard is killed they find out that the Duke's wife has gone mad because of the wizards enchantments and they need to kill her also.
Maybe the Duke has had a long feud with a different noble family? This would give them reason to invade and take their land, maybe sending the players in as a covert ops while the army approaches. My only question is why would a Duke hire these random players to go find his daughter, he should have people he trusts to do something along those lines.
The Duke could order them to attack a high ranking Clergyman (church official) who is not technically a noble. Would that work?
The PCs do not need to know how the spies know anything. You could save that plot point for later, maybe something will turn up during gameplay that will inspire you.
The idea is that the girl is kidnapped in front of the heroes eyes and the clergy man near by asks for their help saving the noble's kids. The Duke trust them because they were there in the worse time of his life, it will be going to the players mindset of looking for an adventure.
I think you should link the Duke's daughter to the forges/prizons gate ie ancestor/blood was high judge/demon hunter that imprisoned the ancient god that lies dormant and only the blood of the oldest/most senior of that ancestral line can open the gate... that's why the wizard needs to have the older relations killed off to be able to open the gate even with the daughter. So the paranoid Duke would target the next most senior blood relative at the doppelganger daughters persuasion
edit the why/how do the spies know this... they are whats left of that cult of demon hunters/ against the ancient god that lies dormant... and they have loads of old records and have noticed that lots of other heirs/most senior in the ancestral blood line have been going missing turing up murdered
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
*blush* thanks Drunk_Yoda glad you found it useful
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
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Hey Guys,
I am a former DM that has retaken this lovely hobby after along time (Last time I played 4th edition came out and killed my love for D&D as well as the fact that I moved away) so at my current job some people asked for a D&D campaign and I jump at the idea of mastering one so here I am.
I will explain the setting as best as I can (I am Mexican and writing in English is kinda hard) so the idea is that there is this big city build on top of a crater near the sea, previously the city was a merchants place for a culture of Dwarves that discovered a huge forge where they could built the greatest magical artifacts ever thought by mankind. The selling of this wondrous items was great until there was some in fighting withing the dwarves and they blocked of the underground routes, loosing any knowledge of the ancient and powerful forge. The idea is that the forge is actually the prison for an ancient god that lies dormant and some people know this and wish to awake him, they know it is a prison 'cus they've dreamt of it and have had visions of it (kinda like the Cthulhu mythos works).
The adventures start when a group of goblins attack the harvest festival taking some kids away as well as the Duke's daughter, the adventures will be motivated to save the kids and they manage to save all but the Duke's daughter. When asked about this they will be offered a reward and after a wild goose chase where the heroes go into the underbelly of the corrupt and powerful city, it is until the heroes find the person that hired the goblins that they find the Duke's daughter and free her but (plot twist) that is not the daughter but a doppleganger, the real daughter is taken away by a wizard to turn her into an aberration and open the forges gate.
Where I am trapped is as follows:
So main questions are: Who should the Duke go after, how and why? and also how would the spy network know all that is going on?
Thanks guys
PS. the adventure part up to the prison should take them from level 2 to 3. Also, if you wish to know the story will take them to the temple where the wizard has turned the Duke's daughter into an aberration and they need to kill her, when the wizard is killed they find out that the Duke's wife has gone mad because of the wizards enchantments and they need to kill her also.
Maybe the Duke has had a long feud with a different noble family? This would give them reason to invade and take their land, maybe sending the players in as a covert ops while the army approaches. My only question is why would a Duke hire these random players to go find his daughter, he should have people he trusts to do something along those lines.
The Duke could order them to attack a high ranking Clergyman (church official) who is not technically a noble. Would that work?
The PCs do not need to know how the spies know anything. You could save that plot point for later, maybe something will turn up during gameplay that will inspire you.
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The idea is that the girl is kidnapped in front of the heroes eyes and the clergy man near by asks for their help saving the noble's kids. The Duke trust them because they were there in the worse time of his life, it will be going to the players mindset of looking for an adventure.
I think you should link the Duke's daughter to the forges/prizons gate ie ancestor/blood was high judge/demon hunter that imprisoned the ancient god that lies dormant and only the blood of the oldest/most senior of that ancestral line can open the gate... that's why the wizard needs to have the older relations killed off to be able to open the gate even with the daughter. So the paranoid Duke would target the next most senior blood relative at the doppelganger daughters persuasion
edit the why/how do the spies know this... they are whats left of that cult of demon hunters/ against the ancient god that lies dormant... and they have loads of old records and have noticed that lots of other heirs/most senior in the ancestral blood line have been going missing turing up murdered
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Holy freaking cow.... thanks Justin, that is genius will surely use it and sound far more epic than the stuff I was going for.
*blush* thanks Drunk_Yoda glad you found it useful
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again